Anything But Worthless
by JustThatOneGirl
Summary: Feeling he is just a worthless part of the team, Private runs away, only to be captured by the pen-gu-ins' worst enemy. Is Private really just a weak and useless member of the team, or can he contribute to his friends more then he realized?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this chapters gonna be pretty short (it's kind of an introduction), but I hope you guys can leave a review/alert/favorite! :D Enjoy! **

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Private waddled down the streets of New York, lonely and sad. He didn't want to be doing this, running away from his home and all his friends, but he knew it was for the best.

He had decided to run away a long time ago. He'd chosen today because he felt it would be the best time; Kowalski, Rico and Skipper had all been engrossed in a game of cards, and hadn't even seen Private slip out of the habitat.

The youngest penguin's teammates ment the world to him. That's why he was running away. It wasn't because he felt neglected, it was because he felt he didn't belong. Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico each had something that made the team what it was. But what did Private do? Sit in the corner and watch the telly. He was worthless. Kowalski was a science master, Skipper was the best leader in the world, not to mention one of the toughest fighters Private had ever known, and Rico could cough up anything useful in a matter of seconds, along with his love of dynamite which made him a great addition to the group. But Private... what could he do? Defeat his enemies with his talent at mini-golf? No... he really was the third wheel. He was positive that the only reason his friends kept him on their squad was out of pity.

Private loved his friends like brothers. That was why he was leaving. He knew that this was for the best, that running away would make his team happy. That was really what he wanted, wasn't it? He wanted the rest of his squad to be happy, and in his mind, that meant he needed to leave.

So that's why he was here, waddling aimlessly around New York, receiving strange looks from a few passersby. It wasn't common to see a penguin waddling down the streets midday, but most people were too engrossed in their cellphone conversations to notice him. The farther he got from the zoo, the deeper his hear sunk, but the more he felt he was doing the right thing.

As he wandered, Private began to feel hungry. He looked around and realized he knew where he was. There was a fishing port close by, and he knew that tons of fish were being unloaded from fishing boats there. He raced forward a bit and slid on his stomach until he reached the dock. There were boxes and boxes of fish! He jumped to the top of one of the mountains of boxes and proceeded to pull it open with a strong tug, gouging himself on the delicious food inside.

He continued eating for a moment before something nearby caught his eye. A glowing red circle in the pitch-black area in between a group of boxes. There was something about the light he didn't like. He turned around, planning on running away, but he was met with a long line of lobsters. Private froze as he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Pen-gu-in."

Private gulped and turned around, coming face-to-beak with Dr. Blowhole, who returned the penguins horrified gaze with a sly, toothy smile.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

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**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that. It's really, really short, and I don't know if it made much sense xD Anyways, since this chapter was so short, I'm going to try and make another chapter either later today or tomorrow. I hope you guys look forwards to that. Please leave a review, favorite, or alert! Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews on the last chapter (even though it was SUPER short, sorry about that). I hope you guys like this chapter even better!**

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Kowalski let out a groan and slammed his cards onto the table.

"Skipper, would you stop making up the rules? Couldn't we play a normal game of cards? How about go fish? That's a game even Private could comprehend," he said, annoyed at his captain's rule-making that always led him to win the games the three played. Rico grunted in agreement.

"This _is_ a real game of cards! You two just aren't smart enough to get it. Isn't that right, young Private?" Skipper retorted, whirling around towards where his younger soldier had been the last time he checked, which, now that he thought about it, had been over three hours ago.

"Um... Private?" Skipper called again, scanning the room before turning to his other friends. "Did you two see him go somewhere?"

"Nuh-uh." Rico replied, shaking his head.

"We _were_ playing cards for quite some time. He could've slipped away then." Kowalski shrugged. "He's probably somewhere around the zoo."

Rico and Skipper nodded in agreement.

"No penguin gets left behind," Skipper said firmly. "We need to go look for him."

Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico all jumped up and left their habitat, splitting up to search the zoo. Rico took the liberty of checking every snack machine, garbage can, and small space that Private could've gotten stuck in. Kowalski decided to ask around to see if anyone had seen the smallest penguin, but he left Skipper with asking the lemurs whether or not they'd seen the boy.

"Listen up, Ringtail," Skipper began as he entered the lemurs' habitat. King Julien had his beatbox blasting as he danced around the enclosure. The penguin leader shut off the music box and glared at his neighbor. "A little while ago, one of our own went missing, namely Private. Did you see where he went?"

"Oh, he is the short one who makes everyone happy with his niceness, right?" Julien replied, placing a finger on his chin. "Nope, I didn't see him today."

Skipper groaned as the lemur king started his beatbox up again and continued dancing. He didn't know why, but he was worried about Private. He hardly ever disappeared out of the blue like this, and when he did, he always returned shortly. Maybe he'd been kidnapped. That was the only explanation. Why else would that little guy have vanished.

"Uh, Skipper?" Maurice said from behind Julien's stereo, "Earlier I saw that friend of yours just leave the zoo. He looked kinda upset, but I just thought he was meeting you guys somewhere."

"So he's wandering around New York City by himself?" Skipper demanded. Maurice shrugged as the penguin headed back towards his habitat, calling in his friends as he did so.

"My sources tell me that Private didn't just disapear, but he actually ran away," began the captain of the squad. His teammates looked back at him with shocked expressions._  
_

"Oh, boy," Rico sighed.

"Ran away? But why on Earth would he do that?" Kowalski huffed, confused.

"I don't really know, but we need to go find him before something happens to him. Come on, men, the quicker we find him, the better."

The other two agreed, and the three penguins hurriedly began their search of New York City.

~o~O~o~

Private took a step backwards. Dr. Blowhole saw the fear in the little penguin's eyes and couldn't help but laugh. Private didn't know what to was no way he could take on Blowhole alone!

"I t-thought... The Mind-Jacker... You should still be in that aqua park, thinking your name is Flippy!" The littlest penguin stammered, remembering the events of the penguin's last encounter with this vileness dolphin.

"It seems the Mind-Jacker has a few... _malfunctions._ My memory returned to me quite easily, just like my arch-enemy's," Blowhole explained. "Where exactly are the other pen-gu-ins?"

"They're not here. I'm alone." Private sighed. He probably shouldn't have said that, but he had trouble keeping secrets, even the less-secretive ones, like this.

"Well, well, well. That makes my plan very easy," Blowhole said, the evil grin still plastered on his face. "You see, little pen-gu-in, I was looking for some bait, and you're just right for the job!"

"B-bait?"

"Yes. You see, I think I'll use you to lure the other penguins here, how does that sound?"

"That's a horrible plan! Besides, they aren't even looking for me! They're happy I'm gone!" Private yelled, albeit he was scared to his wit's end.

"We'll see about that. If I know anything, it's that that arch enemy of mine has a credo. No penguin gets left behind, right?"

Private had totally forgotten about that. Skipper used that credo all the time, and he never passed up a chance to use it. He knew in the back of his mind that they were probably looking for him, no matter how much he wanted to believe they weren't. Then again... maybe they weren't. Maybe Private was right, and they really didn't care where he was.

"Believe what you want, pen-gu-in." Dr. Blowhole shrugged. Private spun around as he heard the sound of Blowhole's lobsters coming closer to him. He backed up, terrified, and tripped over the dolphin's scooter. The evil mammal grinned and reached over to one of the storage boxes Private had been eating out of, ripping of a plank of wood from the box. Private gasped as Blowhole raised the plank into the air, then brought it back down onto the boy's head.

"Goodnight," Dr. Blowhole grinned, watching with joy as Private fell unconscious.

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**A/N: Please leave an alert/favorite/review if you enjoyed. I always like to know whether or not people like my work! Anyways, thanks for reading!**


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